


How Zhu Li Met Varrick

by bisexualnikiforov



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: First Meeting, One Sided Attraction, varrick asks zhu li to work for him, zhu li kicks butt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-30
Updated: 2014-11-30
Packaged: 2018-02-27 12:01:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 999
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2692220
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bisexualnikiforov/pseuds/bisexualnikiforov
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zhu Li witnesses an attempted mugging on her way home from a night class and saves the poor idiot being mugged.</p>
            </blockquote>





	How Zhu Li Met Varrick

Zhu Li walked back to her apartment from her night class, her heavy backpack slung over her shoulder. She felt exhausted. The guest speaker they’d had, some Southern Water Tribe entrepreneur, Zhu Li already couldn’t remember his name, had been a loud and fast-talking spaz. And she felt like half of what he had said wasn’t even worthy of going in her notebook. What was the point of having such a useless guest speaker?

Honestly, the only nice thing about the guy was that he was fairly handsome. He was tall and traditionally dressed, and Zhu Li had to admit that blue suited the slightly older, dark skinned man. His eyes were such a stunning shade of blue and his hair was so thick and curly. Zhu Li would have killed to run her hands through such perfect hair.

“Give me all your money and no one has to get hurt.”

Zhu Li searched for the owner of the voice and was relieved to see that he was not speaking to her. But as she walked by the next alley, she saw a fire bender threatening someone who was mostly hidden by the shadows. Surely that was the person who she had heard.

“I don’t have any cash on me right now,” the other person insisted. “I don’t even have any pockets on this outfit. Where am I going to carry money without pockets?”

“I’m not buying it,” the fire bender told him. Zhu Li saw the flames in the fire bender’s hand grow.

Zhu Li couldn’t just stand there and do nothing, even if she didn’t have any bending to use against the fire bender. She ran as quietly as she could and hoped that neither the fire bender nor the mugging victim would see her and give her away. Hoping to the spirits that it would really work, Zhu Li lined herself up behind the fire bender and quickly jabbed him in several spots along the spine. His fire went out and he fell to the ground.

Zhu Li turned to the man who was being mugged and grabbed him by the arm. “Come on, sir! We’ve got to get out of here before he gets his bending back,” Zhu Li said.

Zhu Li and the man ran down the street for several blocks until they were outside of Zhu Li’s apartment. Zhu Li could have kept running, but the man was out of breath.

“Thanks,” the man said. “You saved me.”

Zhu Li nodded, but in the darkness, the nod went unseen. “Would you like to come in, sir? Have a cup of tea to calm your nerves?”

“Aren’t you worried about bringing a stranger into your home?” the man asked.

“I just took down the person who had you cornered in an alley. We both know you’re no threat to me,” Zhu Li reasoned.

The man followed Zhu Li up a flight of stairs and into her apartment. It was only when she turned on the lights that she realized who the man was. She felt like an idiot for not recognizing him by his voice, especially after hearing it for over an hour.

“I’m Varrick,” the man said.

“You spoke at my night class,” Zhu Li said as she went into the kitchen to put on a pot of tea. She conveniently left out that she had forgotten his name in the short fifteen minutes that had passed since the lecture ended.

“Did you enjoy my lecture?”

“No.”

“Oh.” Varrick sounded disappointed. “Uh, what kind of tea are you making?”

“Green.”

“Do you save people from getting mugged often?”

“No.”

“Do you talk more than this to people whose lectures you enjoyed?”

“I’ve never talked to another guest speaker before, and therefore I can’t adequately answer that question.”

“Oh. Why not?” Varrick asked.

“I’ve never had to rescue any of them before.”

“Do you only talk to people you rescue? Do you rescue people a lot? Is what you’re studying related to rescuing people or criminal justice? Or is this just a hobby?”

Zhu Li was starting to regret allowing this Varrick man into her home. He was probably nuts and strange and not much better at talking one-on-one as he was talking to a class, but he was also gorgeous and showed more interest in Zhu Li in the past few minutes than most people ever did at all, and Zhu Li couldn’t help but be attracted to him. And he was so far out of her league. She was only twenty-two and in her last year of university and he was some big-shot businessman who must have been at least five years older than her.

“Why does it matter?” Zhu Li couldn’t help but ask as she brought him a cup of the now finished green tea with some honey. “I saved you. We’re going to have tea. And then you’re going to go back to the Southern Water Tribe and we will likely never think of this night again.”

“Because you seem like the kind of woman I need in my life,” Varrick told her. “In a business affiliation sort of way,” he added. “You’re quiet and a bit cold and unforgiving and you could probably kick my butt.” He took a sip of the tea. “And this tea is great! Is there anything you can’t do, Zhu Li?”

“Why should I work for you?” Zhu Li asked, somewhat disappointed that this proposition was business and not personal.

“I run one of the biggest and most successful companies, Varrick Global Industries, and I’m on my way to becoming the richest man in the world. Isn’t that something you’d want to be a part of?”

Zhu Li thought on it. That did sound incredibly impressive. And she had already been rejected for the four jobs she had applied to for after graduation. Perhaps this chance encounter was her best option.

“Alright,” Zhu Li agreed.

Varrick grinned. “Welcome to the company, Zhu Li.”


End file.
